6 Steps to Creating a Shared Vision

Link to Blog Post: https://www.beyondtoday.blog/blog/6-steps-to-creating-a-shared-vision

Creating a shared vision has been a centerpiece of the 3 Pillars of Impact and a topic throughout my blogs, talks and development sessions.

The more 3 Pillars of Impact sessions I led, the more it became evident that the shared vision concept was having a tremendous impact on the attendees. What I used as a story to highlight the importance of building a successful culture, was something they wanted to hear more about. They wanted to know how they could build this within their organization.

Something I had considered to be a foundation of the process was something they considered to be the outcome of the process - and something they wanted to experience first-hand. Something they needed help in implementing.

The 6 Steps

So, to help these organizations and the leaders struggling to break down silos between groups and foster employee engagement, I dug deeper into the concept that I had taken for granted and introduced the 6 steps to create a shared vision.

Step 1: Define the Vision

The vast majority of organizations today already have an established vision statement to use as a starting point. In some cases, we will create a vision statement for the Department or Division that supports the larger vision of the entity.

So, whether it already exists or is being created, we start with Top Management and peel back the onion to either confirm or uncover the why’s of the organization. We establish understanding and create alignment that the vision, as written or with adjustments, can serve as the why to connect the rest of the organization.

Step 2: Refine the Vision

In this step, we move away from the board room or executive lounge, and we take those Division Leaders who were at the first session with Top Management, and we had back to their areas. Each of these leaders will gather their leadership teams and key drivers so we can work together and define what the vision established in step 1 means to their teams.

Can we translate the high-level vision to something that will connect to the teams, unit and staff? Is the message understandable and relatable to them or is it a total miss that will leave disconnect and frustration?

WARNING: If your management team does not have a good feel for the staff, then you need to bring in next level people that have a better connection. This is the critical part of the process in that if it doesn’t connect with staff, then the vision will be viewed as an edict from on high and will never truly be shared.

Step 3: The 3 R’s (Reflect, Review, Revamp)

We reconvene the Top Management group to reflect on the initial Vision message after the discussions in Step 2. We reflect and compare “translations” that were uncovered in the Division discussions and consider the best ways to refine the vision. At this point, we should be confident that we have an understandable and uniting vision.

Step 4: Finalize the Vision

We head back to the Division Teams, explain the adjustments and set to work creating the messaging. This is where the introduction or roll-out plans are created and defined to make sure we have a good approach to connect the whys of the organization to the why of the teams.

Step 5: Creating the Vision

This is where the magic actually happens. To me this was the easy part because I had spent time establishing and reinforcing the 3 Pillars of Impact. But for some organizations that do not have a history of empowerment and are more autocratic in nature, well this where the work really begins.

This is where we take the time to show how each of the teams and each of the staff members fit into the vision. The first 4 steps were about deciding what we were going to paint and then start painting the picture enough that people could see the potential.

This step is not just about showing the staff where they fit into the picture but trusting them enough to hand over the paint brush and let them paint themselves into the picture. We connect their whys, show how everyone benefits, and then create ownership plans showing how their actions connect to the vision.

Step 6: Owning the Vision

To reinforce ownership you must build the Expect Excellence mindset and a great way to do that is through showing progress on your ownership plans.

We establish monthly check-in sessions with the Division Teams where we celebrate successes and understand the challenges. We make adjustments because we reinforce a culture to Be Better Today.

Quarterly, we meet with the Division Leadership to see if we are moving the needle in engagement levels and to assess if we are making alignment to the vision. We repeat this with Top Management to identify if there are best practices to found at certain Divisions that could be applied to others. We can reinforce or adjust our approach to connecting with staff. Because at all levels, we can Be Better Today.

The vision must be more than a poster on the wall or an About Us page on your website. It is the unifying force behind your culture. It’s where you connect the whys to give your staff the Vision to see Beyond Today.